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The Cuban government has approved a package of measures to rescue the system of autonomously managed farming cooperatives known as UBPCs, which cultivate 28 percent of the nation’s arable land.

Communist Party daily Granma said Tuesday that the plan will take effect immediately and seeks to eliminate the subjection to state companies under which these cooperatives have been laboring, by providing them with greater autonomy and new sources of financing.

The newspaper noted that these cooperatives are not state companies and though they were “well conceived” back in 1994, their autonomy has been “constricted to almost unsustainable levels.”

UBPCs were founded with more than half the country’s arable land going to workers rent-free, but they had to comply with high production quotas to supply the state with food that would go to hospitals, schools and other institutions.

Granma recalled Tuesday that what were originally state farms were made into UBPC farming cooperatives in order to revitalize the agricultural system through autonomy of management, though they were never able to “get organized organically” due to their domination by state companies.

In that sense, the daily said it was often considered normal for state companies to impose production plans, supervisors and even business decisions on the UBPCs.

Of the 2,519 cooperatives of this kind in country in 1994, some 1,989 remain in 2012.

UBPCs take up more than 1.7 million hectares (4.2 million acres) and closed the year 2010 with 15 percent of the cooperatives in the red.

It is estimated that 57 percent of the UBPCs have troubles that can be “put right,” while 16 percent are in such critical condition they have little hope of recovery.

In its financial provisions, the new plan aims to liquidate the debt of these cooperatives and boost their capitalization by different means, though it does specify that starting in 2013 they will receive no funding from the government budget.

In Cuba, the revival of agriculture and increased production are considered a matter of “national security,” because the country spends more than $1.5 billion a year to import 80 percent of the food it consumes.

The wife of U.S. contractor Alan Gross expressed concerns about his health after visiting him in a Cuban prison.

“I am devastated by his appearance,” Judy Gross said in a statement released Tuesday.

She said her husband has lost 47.7 kilos (105 pounds) and has developed degenerative arthritis and a mass behind his right shoulder blade.

“While his spirit remains strong, I fear he is not going to survive this terrible ordeal,” Mrs. Gross said, pleading with Cuban President Raul Castro to “put an end to our anguish and let Alan come home.”

Now 63, Gross was arrested in Havana on Dec. 3, 2009, in possession of satellite communications equipment he said he was planning to distribute among Cuba’s Jewish community.

Havana says he was illegally aiding dissidents and inciting subversion on the Communist-ruled island. Last August, Cuba’s highest court upheld the 15-year jail sentence imposed on Gross five months earlier.

Gross was in Cuba as an employee of a Maryland firm contracted by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The U.S. government has always maintained that Gross is innocent, has criticized the sentence imposed upon him as unjust and has demanded his “immediate and unconditional” release by the Cuban regime.

Washington has dismissed suggestions that it trade five Cuban intelligence agents convicted of espionage in Florida more than a decade ago for the contractor.

Havana, which has publicly hinted it would be prepared to free Gross outright in exchange for the return of the “Cuban Five,” acknowledges the men were intelligence agents but says they were spying on Miami’s Cuban exile community, not the U.S. government.

The U.S. State Department has repeatedly asked Cuba to heed Gross’s request to visit his dying mother as a reciprocal measure after Washington allowed one of the Cuban Five - Rene Gonzalez, on probation in Florida after serving 13 years for espionage - to travel to the island in late March for a brief visit with his terminally ill brother.

President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto said in an address to political and business leaders that he planned to focus on reducing the poverty that afflicts 52 million Mexicans and to boost gross domestic product growth, which has averaged 2.4 percent annually over the past three decades.

The president-elect told the approximately 300 movers and shakers from the worlds of business and politics who attended the annual Lideres Mexicanos magazine dinner on Monday that he was aiming to produce positive results.

The 46-year-old Peña Nieto, who will take office on Dec. 1, said his administration would aim to create 1 million jobs annually and restore Mexico’s status as a world leader.

Existing social assistance programs that only “give money away” will be changed, with new policies being implemented to help families get involved in productive activities, Peña Nieto said.

Tax, energy, labor and security reforms will be implemented to boost economic growth, the president-elect said.

The economy has tremendous growth opportunities and Mexico is part of the MIST (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey) group, which is similar to the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) group of fast-growing emerging economies, Peña Nieto said, citing analysts.

“Mexico has a great opportunity to project itself in the world and gain the confidence of capital to promote its economic growth,” Peña Nieto said.

Mexico’s relationship with the United States should not be centered on fighting drug trafficking and should instead be a more productive one, with the same focus being placed on relations with Central and South America, the president-elect said.

The right to an education should be about more than just attending school, with teachers and parents working to help students receive a quality education, Peña Nieto said, making the slogan his own.

“A president does not have friends. His only interest is in moving the republic forward,” the president-elect said, adding that he would follow that standard.

A leader must have the ability to rally society and transform the country, Peña Nieto said.

The incoming administration will be democratic, but the president will take responsibility for the decisions made, Peña Nieto said.

Peña Nieto belongs to the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico for seven decades and has been out of power since 2000.

Under Secretary María Otero will travel to Tegucigalpa, Honduras from September 12-14, 2012.

In Honduras, Under Secretary Otero will lead the U.S. delegation at the first U.S.-Honduras Bilateral Human Rights Working Group. The Working Group sessions will focus on advancing bilateral cooperation in combating impunity, reforming Honduras’s justice sector, and strengthening Honduran human rights institutions.

Under Secretary Otero will be joined by Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Labor and Human Rights Michael Posner, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs Liliana Ayalde, and representatives from the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations (CSO).

Under Secretary Otero will also meet with a range of senior Honduran officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, human rights activists, and youth leaders to discuss the importance of human rights, strengthening the rule of law, and improving citizen security. This is Under Secretary Otero’s third trip to Honduras.

A United Nations senior official today urged Venezuela to reconsider its decision to withdraw from the American Convention of Human rights, warning that doing so would represent a serious setback for human rights protection in the Latin American country and the region as a whole.

“I fear that a vital layer of human rights protection for Venezuelans – and potentially for other Latin Americans as well – will be stripped away if this decision is carried out, and they will be left far more vulnerable to abuses with fewer remedies available,” said the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

According to a news release from the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday, the Venezuelan Government informed the OAS’ Secretary General of its move through an official letter, in which it also denounced the Convention.

The American Convention on Human Rights – also known as the Pact of San José – was adopted by many American countries in the Costa Rican capital of San José in 1969, and came into force in 1978.

It defines the human rights which the ratifying States have agreed to respect and ensure, and it created two organs to promote the observance and protection of human rights and take responsibility for overseeing compliance with the Convention: the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

The team’s coach was also attacked by Peruvian soccer fans as the players left their training facility in Lima ahead of their 2014 World Cup qualifier against Peru.

Though no one on the bus was injured, windows were broken.

The Peruvian national football team has apologized for the incident, tweeting, “As hosts, we offer our most sincere apologies to each and every one of the members of the Argentine delegation.”

Peru and Argentina have had a strained relationship since the 1990s and the Cenepa War.

Soccer fans in Peru have clearly sided with one of Messi’s top on-field rivals, Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who recently expressed he has been “sad’ without stating why. Perhaps the Peruvian fan’s attack on the Argentine bus to, however oddly, show support for the melancholy star.

Argentina currently sits atop the South America World Cup qualifying group.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks to intervene in a lawsuit filed by two U.S. citizens against the sorghum and soy farm, Estopy Farms, for alleged discrimination against them, whereby they lost employment opportunity when they were not hired because of their citizenship status, in this case U.S. citizenship.

The Immigration and Nationality Act’s (INA) anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from discriminating against workers based on national origin or citizenship status in the hiring or firing process.

According to the department’s complaint, a U.S. citizen with over twelve years experience operating cotton combines and tractors, applied for a position with Estopy Farms as a cotton picker operator around June of 2010. The U.S. citizen was not hired, and Estopy Farms hired a number of seasonal foreign workers instead.

The department found reasonable cause to believe that the company did not hire the U.S. citizen because it preferred to hire foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. The H-2A visa program allows foreign nationals into the U.S. for temporary or seasonal agricultural work. Employers that seek to participate in the program file an application with the U.S. Department of Labor certifying that they have actively tried to recruit U.S. workers for the jobs.

Rafael Cennamo launched his label in 2006 and has since become renowned for the elegant couture designs and strong vision he brings to the world of eveningwear.

Fueled by his passion for modern glamour, Cennamo designs with a classic eye, but sees through a contemporary lens. He uses bold colors and luxurious fabrics coupled with edgier structures to reinterpret classic couture silhouettes, creating a truly beautiful effect.

Cennamo’s collections can currently be found in at select Neiman Marcus stores, Saks Fifth Avenue, Harvey Nichols, the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Daslu in San Paolo, Brazil.

He currently runs his company out of New York, with plans to open boutiques in New York and Miami.

Take a look at a few of Cennamo’s garments from his Spring 2013 as well those from his White Couture Spring line.

To support Chicago parents and children, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced today that it will extend the hours of Children First school sites to be six full hours, starting on Thursday, should the CTU choose to continue to strike.

Currently, the 147 Children First sites are open for half-days (8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.); as of Thursday, CPS will extend the hours to be open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to support Chicago parents and children.

As of Monday CPS has opened 144 Children First school sites as a safety net for families who are not able to access alternatives for childcare. Today, CPS opened three additional Children First sites based on feedback it received from families and communities.

Children First sites have capacity for 150,000 students, or nearly 40 percent of the students impacted by the CTU’s choice to strike. While instruction cannot take place at Children First sites per the law, children are participating in multiple activities to keep them safe and engaged.

On December 20, 2010, Sara Alvarez was walking with her son in Sunnyvale, California. Before long, she was unable to feel her right leg and then right foot. When she was taken to Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Hospital by her husband, doctors battled over what was wrong.

A CT scan ultimately revealed the culprit, neurocysticercosis – a calcified tapeworm in her brain.

Neurocysticercosis has becoming more prevalent in the U.S., but is common in other parts of the world.

The Latino community in the U.S. is most affected as neurocysticercosis “primarily exists in marginalized populations, Hispanic immigrants,” Dr. Patricia Wilkins of the Center for Disease Control told Scientific American.

Unfortunately, lack of education on the parasite is common in U.S. Latino communities, and few realize neurocysticercosis is the leading cause of acquired epilepsy worldwide, often hitting developing countries the most. In the U.S. alone, an estimated 1,900 people are diagnosed with the malady, while 50 million are infected around the globe.

Without realizing, migrants can carry the tapeworm across borders, which is often the cause of many cases in the U.S. as those living in a household with a tapeworm carrier have a much higher risk of becoming infected.

Alvarez is believed to have come to the U.S. with it in the 1980s, as she suffered debilitating headaches that often blinded her and caused vomiting.

Neurocysticercosis can be acquired via fecal-oral contact with carriers of the adult tapeworm, drinking water or eating food contaminated with pork tapeworm eggs, or by putting contaminated fingers in your mouth.

Rookie Evan Rodriguez has made a great first impression with the Chicago Bears.

The Bears fourth round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft started in his first professional game at H-back in Chicago’s 41-21 win over Indianapolis.

Rodriguez, who is naturally at tight end, played in a position where he was a lead blocker for Bears running backs. Rodriguez did well creating holes and clearing space for running backs Matt Forte and Michael Bush. Forte rushed for 80 yards and Bush added 42 yards.

Rodriguez was born in Bronx, New York and played high school football in North Bergen, New Jersey. He started his college career at West Virginia, but left the program when he was accused of felony assault.

Rodriguez transferred to Temple and played three seasons with the Owls. He was Temple’s leading receiver last season with 35 receptions for 479 yards and two touchdowns.

He was the only Latino drafted in this year’s NFL Draft.

Rodriguez hopes to build on a good start and be a factor in the Bears new and improved offense.

A homeless man in Malibu, California has been convicted of strangling a brown pelican to death.

Just before 6 p.m. on August 22, Sergio Alvarez, 30, was spotted by a passerby who quickly flagged down a Los Angeles Country sheriff’s deputy. Witnesses say Alvarez was spotted with his hands around the pelican’s throat as the bird flapped its wings in distress until it finally went limp.

When questioned by police, Alvarez claimed he found the bird already dead and was going to eat it. Witness accounts conflicted with this story.

He was arrested and booked into jail on $20,000 bail.

Friday, he pled no contest to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty to a bird. The transient was sentenced to 60 days in jail and one year of probation.

Brown pelicans are a fully protected species in California, though no longer endangered. The California Wildlife Center took the bird’s body.

There are an estimated 50,000 homeless people living the Los Angeles County.

Colombian naval units found more than a ton of cocaine on a high-speed boat traveling in Caribbean waters near San Andres Island, the military said Tuesday.

The four men aboard the launch Pez Caribe were taken into custody.

The boat was spotted by an aerial patrol, which contacted the regional naval command on San Andres.

The smugglers tried to flee when navy boats approached, hurling several bales of cocaine into the sea in an attempt to distract their pursuers.

Naval units finally intercepted the Pez Caribe about four nautical miles from San Andres, located near the coast of Nicaragua.

The 956 kilos (2,105 pounds) of cocaine found aboard the launch was bound for “a storage center somewhere in Central America,” the navy said, estimating the value of the consignment at roughly $30 million.

The Center for American Progress Action Fund (CAPAF) has released the infographic “The Economic Impact Of The Republican and Democratic Immigration Platforms.”The platform adopted by Republicans doubles down on nearly every extreme enforcement tactic with the goal of “self-deportation,” or driving all undocumented immigrants out of the country. In contrast, the platform adopted by Democrats calls for the practical, forward-looking reforms that were once embraced by leaders in both parties, including former President George W. Bush.

In this infographic CAPAF illustrates what would happen to our economy during the four years of the next presidential administration based on the respective immigration policies of the two political parties. Specifically, the organization looks at the consequences for overall economic growth, jobs, and taxes of either deporting 11.5 million undocumented immigrants, including 8 million workers (as the Republican platform would do) versus enabling them to earn legal status (as the Democratic platform would do).

Mark Sanchez can take a deep breath after an impressive performance on Sunday. With backup Tim Tebow in the rear view mirror, Sanchez threw for 266 yards and three touchdowns in the Jets 48-28 over the Buffalo Bills.

If Sanchez slipped up and struggled then the New York and national media would be calling for Rex Ryan to start Tebow instead. There wasn’t a team covered more in the offseason than the New York Jets because of the presence of Tebow.

Tebow, who was traded by the Denver Broncos, saw some time on the field in several different roles. The Jets revealed a new offensive package with Tebow as quarterback and Sanchez split out wide as a wide receiver. In college football the offense is known as the spread, but it is called the “wildcat offense” in the NFL. Tebow didn’t throw a pass and ran five times for 11 yards.

Tebow also got some looks with the special teams units. He was part of the hands team and recovered an onside kick to clinch the win for the Jets.

Sanchez is the better thrower and will keep his job unless he starts playing poorly or the Jets start to lose.

Alejandro Sanz is putting the finishing touches these days in Madrid on the monumental show he will premiere next month in Mexico, in sync with the launch of his new album “La Musica No Se Toca” (The Music Is Not to be Played), which came about from his urge to compose an album “of monumental symphonic pop rock.”

“There’s a song that I think of as a tribute to The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ and also a part like Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ but it’s not something I would have planned,” the singer told reporters.

“It’s a disc dedicated to prowling, to roaming around. I’ve been through so many things, good and bad, and I’ve learned that the journey is in the traveling, not in the destination,” said Sanz, who in the past year had his third child, lost his mother and married Raquel Perera.

Sanz and the 10 musicians joining him for the upcoming tour will take to a stage set with the awe-inspiring designs of Luis Pastor, who has worked previously with Sanz as well as with Miguel Bose and Mana.

The result, he believes, is the “most spectacular tour” he has ever done up to now.

The first to enjoy it will be the Mexicans he accompanied recently in his TV appearance on the jury of a singing contest called “La Voz” (The Voice).

“Mexico made me so happy last year and I felt really at home there,” the Madrid singer said.

He said he already has plans to bring the tour to Spain, probably in May or June 2013.

The Spanish Embassy in Washington on Monday recognized seven U.S. schools for their contribution to strengthening the role of Spanish as the most-widely-spoken foreign language in the United States.

The awards “do not recognize just the work of the centers” but also “the projection they give to the Spanish language and culture,” Ambassador Ramon Gil-Casares said during the presentation of the prizes at a ceremony at the embassy.

In the primary schools category, first prize went to Key Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, followed by Collinswood Language Academy in Charlotte, North Carolina, Denver Montclair International School in Denver and Clyde F. Brown School, in Millis, Massachusetts.

Also honored were Westdale Middle School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Burbank Middle School in Houston and Laguna Hills High School in Laguna Hills, California.

This is the second year that the Spanish Embassy has held the contest in an attempt to push for the recognition and promotion of Spanish in the United States.

In collaboration with the embassy, the competition is sponsored by Santander bank, the Comillas Foundation, the Grupo Santillana and the Cervantes Institute.

Kim Griffin, the academic director of the Comillas Foundation, emphasized the need to acknowledge the promotion of bilingualism to guarantee the “excellent quality of a future professional.”

The awards in the different categories come with $5,000 for first place, $2,500 for second place and $1,500 and $500 for third and fourth place, respectively.

Guatemala has authorized the first adoption of a Guatemalan child by a U.S. family after a five-year moratorium to investigate alleged corruption and irregularities in the process, officials said Monday.

“The first case in a total of 180 that have been suspended since late 2007 was successfully resolved, and this past weekend a 6-year-old Guatemalan boy went to the United States with the family that adopted him,” Rudy Zepeda, spokesman for the National Adoption Council, or CNA, told Efe.

The adoption of little Daniel by Ryan and Jessica Hooker began when the couple found the then-18-month-old at a public orphanage in Guatemala City.

But the process was suspended in December 2007 when Guatemala’s new adoption law went into effect.

The legislation was designed to put an end to a multimillion-dollar business promoted by crime rings that took advantage of multiple gaps and omissions in the law and often resorted to the theft of babies for sale to adoptive parents.

On the average, according to official figures, each adoptive family paid corrupt officials and child brokers between $25,000 and $50,000.

“The way has not yet been cleared for international adoptions. What has been done is to reactivate the cases that began before the new law took effect and were suspended as a result of it,” Zepada said.

When the new statute was enacted, some 3,032 adoptions were underway, 2,852 of which were resolved according to the previous law once the conditions imposed by the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office were complied with.

At the same time, 180 cases were suspended because “many questions existed” about the origins of the children.

“Ninety-five percent of those cases involved American families. For now, 30 of those cases are moving forward in a positive way and in the coming weeks it’s possible they will resolved successfully,” Zepeda said.

The reactivation of these cases began last December when the CNA signed an accord with the U.S. State Department to expedite investigations into the children’s origins.

Cable network Discovery en Español announced Monday that for Hispanic Heritage Month it will broadcast the documentary “Gen H” about the new generation of Latinos and their struggle to transform their dreams into reality.

The program, which will air on Sept. 22, will showcase the lives of three successful young Hispanics who live in the United States and will demonstrate the passion they have for their personal projects, as well as their vision of the country and their community.

“With the premiere of our original production ‘Gen H’ and the rest of our programming lineup, we want to expose the positive force and drive of this young group that follow their own rules and that, with their hard work and vision, have the power to choose their destiny,” the network’s director of content, Eileen Pineiro, said in a statement.

One of the protagonists of “Gen H” is Nina Johnson, an artist of Guatemalan heritage who will show her work as owner of a Miami gallery and founder of The Women of Wynwood, an organization devoted to employing women to improve that neighborhood.

The documentary will also feature Puerto Rican cook Jose Mendin, who is the co-owner of four successful restaurants and was nominated for the prestigious James Beard award for best chef.

Lastly, the documentary focuses on Colombian Juan Felipe Valencia, who has achieved success as a musical composer for television and film.

Three people, including two suspected robbers and a security guard, died when armed subjects tried to rob an armored car Monday at a shopping center in Mexico City, a Federal District Public Safety Secretariat spokesman told Efe.

Two suspected “crooks and a guard” died during the attempted robbery Monday morning of the Sepsa company truck, the spokesman said.

The incident occurred at the Plaza Galerias shopping center in the western section of Mexico City, where the robbers and guards engaged in a gunfight.

The bodies of three people were found at the scene by police, who launched a search for the other robbers.

Federal District Attorney’s Office crime scene specialists went to the shopping center to gather evidence.

A Tecnoval armored car was attacked on Aug. 6 and robbers made off with 850,000 pesos (nearly $65,000).